Valentine's Day
by lil-creator
Summary: A Valentine's Day one-shot concerning Keele, Meredy, and soft cake. With two versions, but same idea! -Tales of Eternia, KxM; Dedicated to Aelph on the Tales Forum Keele FC; Not Rated T because nothing in it really makes it rated T-


Authoress' Notes: Well, it certainly has been a while since I took up writing again. This is my first one since April (I suppose) of last year, and I really hope I do well. My first story for Tales of Eternia, and it has two versions. First time I've ever done such a thing. XP Scroll on down and give me some opinions after reading., kay?

NOTES:

1. I've proclaimed them newlyweds! YEAH! (Max, GET OUT!)

2. I'd like to say that here, Keele DOES remember V-Day, but chooses to NOT look like he knows. It's a weird thing I tried to implement. It may not work so well…

3. Yes, my writing is very much off. I just might revise this. Also, I plan to make another version (which I'm sure fan girls in the Keele FC would totally laugh at) of it soon.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Tales of Eternia in any way whatsoever. I only own the plot, and some random people I put in the mix here. XP

--

"Alright, class, that concludes today's lecture." He announced, gathering up his materials. "Remember, mock exams are a week from now, so study hard during the weekend."

The room echoed with "aww"s and "darn it"s from most of the students. Only a couple of them actually talked about studying, and much less applied. Keele quietly left, clicking the door shut. That was his last class for the day, and he was glad it was a weekend. It always meant that it was half day. The dean would never issue weekend classes unless necessary. And passing exams are a necessity…

He climbed up two flights of stairs with little difficulty, except for the occasional slip-ups, all thanks to his uniform. Unlocking the door to his office, he set down his things and rested on his chair. He sighed. His eyes searched the room for a brief moment. It was a normal room, nothing too fancy. There was a windowsill on both sides of the wall, a couple of bookshelves beside them, a rectangular table surrounded by a sofa and two single couches, some plants here and there... Really, it wasn't even worth describing.

Keele sat up straight, brought out a notebook, and started flipping through the pages. He predicted that he would spend the next couple of hours over the information he gathered at the observatory this morning. Picking up his pen, he started sketching out a formula.

--

Meredy dropped on down to a chair, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. She didn't know what hit her, but she had the sudden urge to give the basement a quick fix. Empty plastic cases were everywhere, various books misplaced, random, useless things, and a whole lot more imaginable. After an hour and a half, she gave up and left the room half cleaned.

Entering the living room, her eyes shortly caught sight of the medium sized box she pulled out earlier in that pile. She ventured over to the sofa and sat the old tattered cardboard in front of her. It had a plain brown color, a couple of huge staplers at the edges, and a lot of packaging tape to keep the thing whole. The only noticeable thing was the Melnics character written largely on top.

It read "Shizel".

She didn't frown or smile. Quickie perched by her shoulder, his fuzzy tail sweeping the back of her clothes. Slowly, she removed the tape one by one, and as she opened it, a mini-mushroom cloud of dust rose from the hole. She lightly coughed, fanning the particles with her hand.

"Kweekee?"

"Everything in here has dust…" she rummaged through the things inside: most of them were old photo albums and more small boxes, and some plain plastic covered notebooks here and there. She really didn't think she'd find anything until she saw another color in the different shades of white. It was a normal spiral notebook in blue paper, decorated with pastel colored laces. However, what caught her eye wasn't that, but the title. "To My Daughter"

Cautiously, she began to tear the plastic wrapping and opened it with great care. It was a genius idea to preserve the ink like it was written yesterday. She trailed a finger on the characters before really reading them.

On the first page, there written, her mother's perfect handwriting.

_A recipe book. The perfect gift I'd give to my daughter when she finally gets married. I'm sure every man, no matter what world, would love a home cooked meal by his wife. After all, I did capture your father with my cooking._

_-Shizel_

"Mother…" she muttered, staring at the letters. _For my daughter. Married._ She giggled a little. It was as if she knew that the moment she'd find this, her marital status would be a newlywed wife. Over to the next page, she found a table of contents neatly organized from daily meals up to occasional desserts. One topic, presumably written by Balir, was entitled "Valentine's Day".

She flipped over to the page and began reading about this 'Valentine's Day'.

--

For the first time in what seemed to be eternity, he looked up from his paper to check the time.

It was past 2 o'clock.

He yawned quietly and rubbed his eyes. He skipped lunch again. Then again, he never felt the need to eat, not when researches like this need an answer. Meredy would probably scold him again. Smirking a bit, he continued to focus his attention on the task and drew a line across the previous equation. Now that he thought about the Conservation Principle, he shortly reviewed the notes again. He crossed out another one. And two more, now that he remembered Focular's Theory. He took an overview of the solution and sighed. "This is going to take some time…"

A soft knock sounded in the still room. "Keele? I know you're in there because the door's unlocked (he rolled his eyes--Meredy must have told her). I'm coming in."

The woman entered the room, strode over to his desk, and took a seat. "So, how's the problem going?"

"Its still a problem." He retorted boringly, tapping his pen. "Shouldn't you be at your own husband's office?"

She slightly nodded.. "True, I should be going to Saifrone's room. But… Meredy asked me for a favor, since she went off to a quick trip to Imen." Dropping off a cloth-covered box, she continued. "Don't worry, she promised to come home before you do. Well, my job is done, so I'll leave you with your package." Sure enough, she left the office with another soft click from the doorknob.

Although determined to finish this as soon as possible, he set aside his paperwork and pulled the object closer to him. It was still warm, he thought, as he untangled the knots. Inside was a black container divided in two, kept together by the handkerchief. He opened the topmost case and found that it _was_ his lunch. She must have known that he'd be too busy to bother with eating his meals, seeing as how he went the observatory first rather than the university gates. The lower one was slightly larger than the first, but lighter. He unwrapped the tissue-coated utensils and ate, even though he doubted that he'd eat lunch at the same time tomorrow. After eating, he retrieved the other half of the kit.

Keele smiled when he immediately saw the contents. Instead of touching the pastry, he grabbed the neatly folded paper at the side and began to read.

_Meredy found out about Valentine's Day through Shizel's notes! -smiley- Meredy remembered that Keele liked this, and so Meredy thought that it would be nice to make some for Keele._

_U ruinun yaio~_

_-heart- Meredy_

His temperature rose a little after reading those last lines. He could just imagine her in the kitchen, whipping a bowl with her right hand, blotches of the batter stuck to her face with a smile. Shaking his head a little, he tasted a portion of the chocolate-infused strawberry soft cake he loves so much--but not as much as he loves Meredy--, and tucked its cover back.

Maybe when he gets back home early tonight, he'll eat the rest of it with Meredy.

--

Authoress' Notes: -hides behind her sofa- Don't kill mee! -hides behind Max and Ras- I HAVE MAX AND RAS AS HUMAN SHIELDS!! AND I HAVE ANOTHER VERSION! WITH SOFT CAKE!!

--Version Two! But not better!--

"This is definitely not right."

He scratched out the last equation and reviewed Focular's Theory mentally. No, no, it still wouldn't fit. Increasing the value of the Kaloric flow would proportionally affect the Grobule distortion range, causing it to increase dramatically in diameter. Not to mention the magnitude it would be due to the amount of light energy consumed. Determined, Keele Zeibel continued to rack his knowledge on craymelology. If he had the entire Leonoa Encyclopedia memorized by heart, this shouldn't be a problem.

Time ticked away as he proceeded to scribble with his pen mercilessly. However, no matter what he did, none of them was the answer. Changing each figure would be illogical, and rounding off the millions of possible combinations by trial and error is out of the question. He didn't have the patience, more importantly the hours, to test every single one of them. He sighed, and for the first time in what seemed to be eternity, looked up at the wall clock. It was past 9 PM. He would've gone back to the observatory outside Imen, but seeing as how late it already is, he didn't reconsider it. He couldn't wait until tomorrow. Saifrone expected the results soon, and he promised that he would give it by the end of the week.

Keele wiped his bangs away and leaned back into the chair, staring out the window. Even though Celestia is often cloudy, there are rare times when the sky is clear. And tonight is one of those times. The moon was out, shining bright with the sun's reflection. Stars playfully hid behind small grey hazes scattered across the heavens.

He shook his head. Really, he should be getting back to work.

"Keele?"

He automatically sat up straight. "Yes?"

Meredy opened the door and shut it with a quiet click. He wondered why she was still awake. "Did Meredy interrupt Keele at a bad time?"

"No, no. Its okay."

She walked toward him and gazed at the papers laid on the table. "Keele is having problem solving it?"

"You could say that."

"Why not take a break?" she asked.

He continued to ponder for the answer. "Maybe later… When I've solved this."

Keele focused on his work to keep himself from looking at her, because he knew that she was watching him. There was a high chance that he'd blush, considering the distance between them, just like always. At least, according to Farah back then. And she was right. Lately, he had noticed that little fact about him. Now, he had an excuse to not look at her, which would result to a normal cheek color. That's one thing he was glad about.

A little, at least.

After moments of silence, he heard something being placed on his desk. Curious, he looked up and found a strawberry soft cake on a small platter, a cup of coffee, and a fork. "Meredy…? What are these for..?" But his question hung in the silence as he heard the closing of his office door. The room was still once again. Glancing over to the dessert, he took the neatly folded paper with his name on it in Melnics.

_Keele should take a break soon! Meredy found the recipe in Balir's notes, then Meredy remembered that it is Keele's favorite! So Meredy made some for Keele!_

_Meredy doesn't want to bother Keele from work, so Meredy will leave it on the table._

He smiled to himself and picked up the fork. He'll have to repay her with something next time. "I could spare the time anyway."

--

Authoress' Notes: See? Now I have THREE A' NOTES! THAT NEVER HAPPENS. I'VE MADE A NEW RECORD IN HISTORY!! -is shot by someone with a gun- Well… whatever… Thanks for putting up with my craziness till the end! Woot! I'll probably make some in the near future.

Review? Flames? (they're gonna be used to defrost Keele at Mt. Celsius. Did I spell it right?) Comment? They'd do wonders to my writing skills, so go on. Its not like I'll hunt you down or something. XP


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